01/24/02 THE TRIP ENDS FOR ME My adventure ended in Santiago, Chile.

My KLR was in bad shape, tires shot, both sprockets shot, chain stretched beyond saving, and etc. It was also very pavement-worn from being down so much, (darn). I took hwy 68 out of Santiago to Valparaiso and arrived there at dusk, too late to get anything done to get my bike shipped to the states. So I checked into a hotel and didn't get much sleep because I was so upset that I wouldn't be completing my trip to Ushuaia.

Dale in Northern Chile by the "Hand in the Desert"

We stopped at the giant hand in the desert, a huge concrete hand, raising straight up about 200 yards off the road. We were taking some pictures and eating a donut, when Frank said, "Well, here comes one of our compadres...on a KLR." It was Mariola Cichon. She was heading for Ushuaia also, then up through Brazil, Uruguay, then over to New Zealand, India, and maybe Africa...

On this road to Cusco, we encountered many obstacles that were put there by the strikers; we could get through though, because they weren’t being manned. Also had to cross many shallow streams, deepest about 12’, and it rained on us. Also encountered 100’s of cattle and sheep on the road We hit pavement and went 4 more hours to Cusco (8:00 p.m.,..very long day).

A truck approached us. The driver jumped out and we quickly up-righted the bike and got it over to the side, so the truck could squeeze by. Frank sat down in the rain and said ‘Dale, move your bike over a little so the truck can get by’. I really didn’t have any room to move, so thought I would take it off the kickstand and just lean it a little to the right to give a couple more inches. As my foot touched the edge, it gave away. I was tumbling and sliding with my bike down the mountain...

Experiencing the euphoria

Today, we climbed to the top of the mountain and floated among the clouds, hwy good (sparse traffic) & we glided, floated, drifted...surreal. And then we descended; the curves got tighter but concentric, loved the sound of my KLR purring, coasting, and carving the mountain. It was a dreamy 265 miles.